PAUL ROBINSON has taken a crash course in coping with the new World Cup ball - so he can be a champ rather than a chump when the tournament begins.

Keeper Robbo does not want to go the way of David Seaman - beaten cruelly by Ronaldinho's freak freekick as England crashed out in 2002.

Then there was David James, the victim of Zinedine Zidane's swerving set-pieces as England lost their opening game of Euro 2004. Robinson, now England's No.1, said last night: "I had the foresight to realise that the ball being used in this tournament is not going to be what we are used to. So with four or five weeks to go of the Premiership season I got my agent to get me half a dozen of them.

"I mixed them in with my training balls at Spurs so I have been training with them for a while now. It's a lot lighter than the Premiership ball.

"I don't know if it gives strikers an unfair advantage but it's just a difficult ball for goalkeepers.

"The new ball is two pieces glued together, it moves a lot, it's very light and it's like a volleyball.

"When it's wet it's even worse - it's as if it has a plastic coating around it.

"Arsenal's Jens Lehmann has already been complaining about the ball - it is very goalkeeper unfriendly."

Robinson was a non-playing substitute behind James at Euro 2004 - but over the last two years has firmly established himself as the leading keeper in the country thanks to his performances for Spurs. He believes that although the new ball will present problems for keepers when the World Cup begins on Friday, he does not intend to change any aspects of his game.

He declared: "If you start doing things you don't normally do in a game that's when things can go wrong.

"I personally think, for example, that when a shot comes in you have a bigger space if you have your hands spread to catch the ball rather than punching it.

"If you put your fists together and punch you have a lot smaller area.

"If you spread your hands you have a bigger area to take the sting out of the ball and palm it down."

Thankfully, England can only come up against the sorcery of the Brazilians in the semi-final but Robbo insists that even if that were to happen, he will have had enough practice to prevent a repeat of THAT Ronaldinho goal.

He said: "Even with our lads if they don't strike it totally clean it moves all over the place. But I have given myself the best opportunity.

"The players these days are quality. They can all do so much with the ball and all balls are going to move.

"You are not going to get one that doesn't unless you go back to the old fashioned bricks that we used to play with on frosty school mornings!"

Despite the fears of what the new ball may hold, Robinson, 26, admitted: "It will be a very, very proud moment for me as a footballer and as a person. Every time you pull on an England shirt it fills you with pride and no more so than on Saturday.

"I've been given the chance to be one of the few English keepers to play at the World Cup finals - and I'm really looking forward to it.

"There's no reason, on merit, why we shouldn't finish among the top four teams in the world.''